Filter Content
Message from the Principal - Week 10, Term 2.
Kia ora e te whānau,
As we come to the end of the term, we say farewell to Christina Petris who has been a refreshing addition to staff. She has covered Ethel Renata as she has pursued her goal of writing her thesis for her PhD in terms 1 & 2. Christina has worked hard to understand; the demands of teaching as a first year teacher, our special character, our students and our community. We wish her all the best in her role at St Patrick’s Primary school. Thank you Christina and welcome back Ethel.
We also welcome the addition of two new staff members, Emily de Vegt and Andrew Greening. Emily will be working to enhance the musical life of our school by teaching music lessons to all classes in our kura in terms 3 and 4. She is looking forward to teaching piano, ukulele, singing groups and other instruments. She will also be available to teach private lessons from our music room during the weekdays. Andrew is a local parishioner who volunteers at the Holy Trinity parishes, Home of Compassion and the Ronald McDonald House across the road from the hospital. Andrew has offered to keep an eye on the school after hours and will regularly do security sweeps of the school grounds.
Strategic Plan - What have we been working on?
Goal 1: Kotahitanga/Community
Deepen our relationship and connection with Holy Trinity Parish:
This week, Simone and I met with Lucienne Hensel, Margaret Bearsley and Father Bill to discuss ways that we could bring our community and Parish together more often. We discussed the importance of our faith and that unlike everything else we teach, the building of faith starts in the home and is guided by the support of school. This means, at home we teach our children how to encounter Christ and build relationships with him and at school we help by teaching the elements of the Catechism (teachings) of the Catholic Church. Simone and I are looking forward to presenting our ideas to the community in term 3.
Grow and develop agency for our Māori whānau rōpū:
As mentioned in the last newsletter, our Māori whānau rōpū worked hard to put together an amazing experience for our tamariki and whānau for Matariki. We started the day at 4:30am organising our Kai for hāngī and putting them into the Kai cookers. Next, I was lucky enough to show all of our children the process of putting down a mini hāngī. Our GTT (Garden to table) students prepared the kai of roast potatoes with rosemary oil and salt and they also prepared the hall for the hākari and classes contributed to this by adding art displays too. Lastly, we all came together at 4pm to eat the beautiful food Ngā mihi mō te kai ki a Cilla, Sheryl and Briar who spent a number of hours making sure our food was just perfect.
Goal 2 Ako/Learning:
Develop kaitiaki and student leadership across the school
During Matariki week, our year 7 & 8 students got the opportunity to practise their leadership skills in a tuakana-teina role with the NE (new entrants) class. They taught our younger students kupu hou, read them stories and pūrākau and played games with them. Over the next two terms, these leaders will develop a student program with Ethel to engage and encourage all students at Holy Cross to let their light shine.
This year has already gone by so fast and we have already achieved so much. As we have a quick break at the halfway mark of the year, I want to acknowledge all the teachers, TLA’s, support staff and board members and the work they have put into our school and our strategic goals. I want to thank our students for working incredibly hard for their teachers. I know it has been hard with high levels of sickness! Lastly, I want to thank our families for all the work that you do, supporting our students, groups, teams, fundraising committees and so much more. I am a proud a Samoan and we believe that it takes a village to raise a child. So this is me saying thank you to our village and if you can, have a nice relaxing break.
Ngā mihi nui,
Tala
It is good to contemplate our sense of place in the cosmos. People have always taken a keen interest in the starry skies, and the constellations have been a source of wonder over millennia all around the world.
At this time of year, the cluster Matariki, also known as Pleiades, The Seven Sisters or Subaru reappears above the horizon, after having dropped out of sight for some weeks. This signifies the beginning of the Māori New Year.
The tikanga of Matariki has deep spiritual roots. Matariki is a time to remember those who have died. It is a time to reflect on the past, plan for the future, a time to be with whānau and friends. A time for harvesting, planting and thanksgiving to God and the forces of nature that provide everything necessary. Matariki unifies us as one human family. Clearly this new year in Māori culture has strong links with the sacramental nature of our faith. We are reminded to build stronger partnerships with your local mana whenua, seek out people and places that need our help, make new connections and new friends. Let us show deep gratitude and respect for the gifts of creation. May we reflect on our place in the world and set new goals. This world belongs to all of us.
Read through your child’s partly completed report and talk about this with your child.
Think about any comments, questions or ideas you have. You might like to include any questions you have for the teacher, a message to your child about something you are proud of, or ways that you wish to support your child’s next learning steps at home - feel free to jot these down in the “Whānau Comments” section.
Book a time to come along to a Learning Conference on :
Tuesday 30th July or Thursday 1st August 2024 between 3.00pm and 6.00pm
Come along and celebrate your child’s learning at the 10 minute conference.
Talk about the final section of the report (the whānau comments column) - the teacher will type in the main points from this Learning Conference.
Following the conference, the completed report will be printed off in colour, signed and sent home.
We hope you find this process helpful. Our intention is firstly to provide a snapshot of your child’s progress to date and secondly to include the child and family in discussions about working together to support learning.
Click the link below to book an appointment or call the office if you are having problems and we can help.
Learning Conference Mid Year 2024
Matariki heri kai! Matariki, bringer of kai!
Our kura was truly blessed this Matariki as our community came together to share kai through our hāngī.
Our Māori whānau rōpū led the preparations supported by school staff, parents, previous students, current students and members of our Miramar community.
The evening was full of whakawhanaungatanga via laughter, connecting with new and old friends and play.
During the school day, our ākonga experienced all aspects of a fire pit hāngī led by Matua Tala. The garden to table students prepared potatoes that were cooked and shared throughout the kura.
Thank you to all who contributed to such a special day.
Ngā mihi nui
for your generous contributions to our Matariki hāngī.
The children of Holy Cross School Miramar would like to invite you to our Grandparents’ Day on 16th August 2024.
At 9:30 Fr Bill will lead us in mass in our school hall. This will be followed by morning tea in the hall. The students will then show their grandparents, whānau or parishioners their learning both in the hall and in their classrooms. We are kindly asking the parents to bring a plate to share for morning tea.
Kind regards,
Simone Meech DRS
ROOM 1
Kia ora, Miss Petris here!
That’s a wrap, I had my last week teaching Room 1 at Holy Cross School. I want to wish a warm farewell and thank you to the tamariki, staff and parents. The students have achieved a lot this term and so have I!
In term 2, students continued to show the Holy Cross WAY.
They showed Yes in school leadership roles such as:
- leading the mihi whakatau in place of a pōwhiri.
- all speaking in front of the school during school prayers on how to let our light shine.
Learning outside the classroom
Hāngi - students showed and applied their impressive knowledge about the Hāngi from last year too.
Music - we had a whole day of music activities and listening to The Firebird Concert, what a lovely opportunity.
Sports - Cross country. Also for P.E. room 1 has been learning sports such as hockey, tennis and table tennis.
Wellbeing
For wellbeing, Room 1 was introduced to the Plutchik wheel to learn about more complex emotions.
Maybe you might find it useful too like we did?
Book week was really successful in our class, it gave the opportunity for students To design a book cover on a story they have been passionately writing in class.
Other pictures: Learning art and maths skills and practising the sāsā.
Matariki - Tuakana-Teina Day with Rm 11 and Rm 1 akōnga
ROOM 11
|
We learn about numbers using many different resources. |
Room 11 walked all around Miramar investigating changes that have taken place over time. We were a little tired at the end. |
|
|
Room 11 has had another busy term and one that took us on a journey through time around Miramar. We began by looking at photographs of Holy Cross School in the past and comparing them to how our school is in the present day. We continued our exploration of past and present with a walking trip around historical Miramar. The Room 11 tamariki were very good at spotting changes that have taken place. |
||
|
Our first maths topic this term wasTime which linked with our Miramar Past and Present. Through this we learnt about timelines, days of the week, months of the year, clock times and our school day timetable. For the second half of the term we have been looking at the properties of 2d and 3d shapes and where they can be found in the world around us. We continue to learn about numbers through practical exploration. |
||
|
We continue to enjoy books and stories and treasure our library visits each week. Last week we were lucky enough to have tuakana-teina with Room 1 and again this week with Room 3. Room 1 supported the Room 11 children while they learnt about Matariki. |
||
ROOM 1 & 2
It has been a busy and full term for the students of Rooms 1 and 2. There have been exciting events and celebrations such as Book Week and the school hāngī to mark Matariki. In Literacy there has been a focus on information reports and narratives and the students have learned about Fractions, Angles and Shapes in Mathematics. The students have also been doing lots of learning in Garden to Table and in the Technology classes at Mount Cook School.
ROOM 3
Room 3 has participated in many rich learning opportunities these last few weeks of term.
In maths, we have been working on our fraction knowledge and our geometry. We also worked in groups to make a plan of how we could fairly share balls gifted to our kura (ngā mihi Adam Focas). We have also combined our maths and writing, creating crazy stories about 3 D shape monsters on an alien planet.
In RE we have learnt about the different values of justice, compassion and courage. In small groups we made up a skit to show what we would do if we were faced with an injustice.
In our afternoon book club sessions, we have been learning to choose books for our own pleasure, sharing our opinions and recommending to other readers.
Our celebration of Matariki saw us learning to weave whetū and learn about the Matariki stars.
We loved being part of the hāngī, preparing the potatoes to share with the tamariki in our kura during our garden to table sessions.
All term, we have been working on writing stories to share with junior students that teach a lesson about how to be kaitiaki.
ROOM 5
Room 5 have had a very busy Term 2! We have continued along a Kaitiaki theme in our reading and writing, visiting the Miramar Prison Gardens and exploring all they do and have to offer.
A great time was had by all including meeting the horses and sheep!
In Maths we have looked at fractions, decimals and percentages and applied this in our Garden to Table sessions recipes. We have also looked at Geometry and how geometric shapes are created and used in packaging.
Swimming was a real highlight as kayaks, boats and life jackets were all part of the programme as well as improving our swimming skills. We also got the opportunity to watch a performance by the NZSO “The Firebird” at the Michael Fowler Centre which was amazing!
The hangi in Week 9 was fantastic despite the weather as we got to see the process in action and eat the delicious kai cooked for us by our fabulous volunteers. Special thanks go to Matua Tala and Cilla for all their hard work in making this possible.
The Year 5 and 6 Girls Basketball team had a winning season, coming first in their grade in a tense final match - Well done to all who took part!
Looking forward to an equally busy and productive second half of the year.
ROOM 7
Matariki prayers
Tessa: We made jars with tealights in them and glued stars all around them. The lights were shining bright.
Aria: I learned the names of the 9 Matariki Stars. It was fun making big stars out of colourful and shiny paper.
Making Matariki stars and māori patterns with geometric shapes.
Ocean: I used triangles, squares, hexagons and trapeziums to make stars with 6 points.
Cody: I found 20 smaller triangles inside bigger triangles. We learned about line of symmetry, reflection and flipping shapes.
Learning about multiplication, division and sharing equally using playdough.
Jarvis: I learned how to share 20 cupcakes with 10 people. Everyone gets 2 cupcakes.
Rosa: I had a cake that was cut into 5 pieces and I shared 5 jelly beans evenly and each piece got 1 jelly bean.
Making geometric shapes with elastic bands on the pegboards.
Finley: I made big and small triangles and squares.
Cattleya: I made lots of 2-d shapes like triangles and hexagons. I used 6 pegs for a hexagon.
Jacob: I made a pentagon with 5 corners. I tried to make a circle and found out I need 0 pegs for a circle because it has no corners.
ROOM 8
Term 2 has been a busy term. We have had lots of sickness in the class, but the children seem to be back to their usual selves, learning and enjoying being with their friends. We really enjoyed our work around Storytelling and the children were happy to share stories that have been passed down to them from their own families. This tied in nicely with our visit from the author Vasanti Unka during our very successful Book Week. Miramar Past and Present has been a very interesting topic for us. We learnt lots about our area and the children were excited to learn about Miramar Wonderland, which was down at the corner of Park Road and Camperdown Road from 1907 - 1911.
We completed some lovely Matariki art, for display in the school hall for our Hangi celebration. Please enjoy our photos from Term 2.
Thank you to all the coaches and managers of Holy Cross School sports teams for Term 2.
Without your help and support we would not be able to offer sports opportunites to our tamariki out of school hours. You volunteer your time without question so thank you from all of us!
Basketball Updates
It was great to get regular updates from the Year 5/6 basketball team and how well they progressed throughout the season to eventually win the final! Well done team and coach!
Monday 1st July
Holy Cross Green were superb last night in our basketball final! We came from 9 goals down to win 21-17 in an epic encounter.
The girls played so hard and displayed great school spirit to remain undefeated!
Amazing effort; and they all got medals to celebrate the victory against Seatoun school who were very gracious in defeat.
Well done girls and thanks parents for supporting the team!
Monday 24th June
Excellent win in the semi finals by the girls to win 40-18!
Eva was strong under the hoop, Anna was everywhere on the court, Jess was the enforcer out wide with Millie.
Angelia was majestic mid court; Moana tenacious as ever and Mila was the energizer bunny!
A big welcome back to Reef! And thanks to Mila & Reefs Mum for scoring.
Final next week!
YEAR 9 ENROLMENTS AT ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE IN 2025
A reminder that enrolments for next year close off on Friday 26 July 2024. Enrolments can be completed online via our website – www.stpats.school.nz
When enrolling your son, you need to ensure that you upload the following documents:
1. the signed Preference Certificate from the parish priest
2. a copy of either your son’s birth certificate or passport
3. the completed St Patrick’s College Board of Proprietors Attendance Dues agreement.
You can also download the enrolment form and required papers and either post, hand deliver or email your application through to the college. If you have any queries about the enrolment process please feel welcome to contact Gerardine Parkinson on 939 5417 or email admin@stpats.school.nz
Free Music Lesson Voucher
Would you like free music lesson vouchers for your school or community fundraising events? Please say the word and I can send you some electronically as a way of saying thank you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Fun Music Holiday Programmes
Are you looking for a holiday programme suited to creative and musical children? Busking trips to build their confidence (and make some $$$), Rock Band School, songwriting and fun activities. Perfect for singers, guitarists, ukulele jammers and keyboard players. Beginners to advanced.
Contact geoff@therockacademy.co.nz or 021 565 750
Dates July 15th to 19th
Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Kind regards
Geoff Day
The Rock Academy
New Zealand
Is your child bursting with energy for cartwheels, handstands, trampolining, flips, dancing, or even parkour? Bigair Gym is their perfect playground! Our classes blend fun, focus, and fitness, offering a dynamic environment where kids can learn new skills and build confidence. Each session emphasizes safety and proper technique, accommodating everyone from novices to advanced enthusiasts.
At Bigair Gym, children engage in structured learning that promotes progress and a sense of achievement. Our diverse range of classes includes Gymnastics, Trampolining, Tumbling, Free Running (yes, parkour with flips!), and Cheerleading. Don’t forget to ask about our Bigair Birthday Parties too! Join us at Bigair Gym and let your child’s gym journey begin!
Exciting news – bookings are now open for Bigair Gyms popular Holiday Programme, with full and half-day sessions available.
Book online for the July Holiday Programme & Term 3 Gym Classes at www.bigairgym.co.nz
Bigair Gym Owhiro Bay: ph. 383 8779, e. wgtn@bigairgym.co.nz at 14 Landfill Road, Owhiro Bay.
NOTICEBOARD